CCL5 and myasthenia gravis: Upregulation of IL-6 and the chemokine RANTES in MG compared to normal thymus was in line with previous studies showing that these genes were abnormally overexpressed in MG TECs either at basal condition [37] or (IL-6) when stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) [38], a major activator of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 known to be upregulated in MG thymus [39].